Lemons
by OnceUponTheseDays
Summary: There's a day when you realize that you're not just a survivior, you're a warrior. You're tougher than anything life throws your way. Brooke Davis.
1. Prologue: Lemons

Life didn't throw me any lemons to me, saying "Brooke, here, let me help you out!"

It's more accurate to say life threw lemons **at **me.

Not just lemons either, a few tomatoes, and apples, turned magically into applesauce, somehow found themselves part of my wardrobe.

And through it all, I expected to be saved by my knight in shining armor, (with blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes, mind you). I expected him to drop my ex-best friend as soon as he saw how hard the lemons were being thrown.

And why won't I think that?

Because come on;

People who are meant to be together, always find their way in the end.


	2. Seven Minutes

_I grabbed some frozen strawberries so I could ice your bruising knees,  
But frozen things they all unfreeze and now I taste like...  
All those frozen strawberries I used to chill your bruising knees,  
Hot July ain't good to me,  
I'm pink and black and blue for you._

…

"911, what's your emergency?"

"There's someone, someone in the house." The frightened voice said, barely above a whisper.

"I'm sending help right now. What's your name?"

"Brooke. My name is Brooke."

"Okay, Brooke. Stay calm. Is anyone hurt?"

"Luk- Lucas, he's, oh god, his leg."

"What's wrong with his leg, Brooke?"

"It's bleeding, it's bleeding really bad."

"Okay, he'll be alright as soon as the ambulance arrives. You're not hurt, are you, Brooke?"

"…"

"Brooke?"

**Seven Minutes Earlier**

"Brooke?"

Brooke lifted her gaze from the floor up to Luke's worried eyes.

"You okay?"

She nodded once, slowly like she was having trouble lifting the weight of her head. His gaze drifted back down to his leg, which now had a shirt sleeve wrapped tightly around it, looking confused, "You take the knife out?"

Brooke nodded, and quietly scooted closer to the wounded body part, "I wasn't sure if I should. Sometimes it makes it bleed more if you take it out. But then I imagined I was you, and how it would just _feel _to have a knife in me and," She shudder and blinked, keeping her eyes closed for a few extra seconds before she let the brown look at blue again, "it freaked me out, so, I just pulled it out."

Lucas noted that the knife now lay a few feet away. As he turned his eyes back to Brooke, they both became aware of the soft footsteps walking up the stairs.

Brooke held back a sob, and tried to smile, "Seems like Peyton's house is the ideal horror setting, again."

Luke's frown deepened as he thought as Derek, but didn't let it linger in his mind for too long. He indicated to Brooke to pick up the knife and she did so hesitantly.

"Hand it here."

Again, she did so hesitantly.

"Never thought this would happen to us, ya know?" Brooke began, as silent tears began streaming. She thought she saw a flicker of something change in Luke's eyes, but it passed and he continued to keep his eyes trained on the door, hearing sounds in Peyton's dad's room next door.

Brooke swallowed a sob, again, "Derek was after Peyton, he had a goal set before him, ya know? This guy, this monster, is just sick. I just, just want to go home, Lucas."

"I know, pretty girl, I know."

He hadn't called her that since they broke up. She met his gaze and opened her mouth to speak, but he brought a finger up to his mouth in a 'shhh' gesture and indicated to the floor next to the door of Peyton's closet. A shadow had appeared and the knob turned slowly.

**Present**

"Okay, Brooke. Stay calm. Is anyone hurt?" _Lift your head up, Brooke, just look to make sure Lucas is fine._

"Luk- Lucas, he's, oh god, his leg." _The sight nearly overpowered her, and she had to hold back the sort of contraction you get when you need to throw up. The knife was back in place, further in this time, and the blood had turned the white sleeve she had wrapped around the wound the first time a deep red._

"What's wrong with his leg, Brooke?"

"It's bleeding, it's bleeding really bad." _No shit, Sherlock, she told her self._

"Okay, he'll be alright as soon as the ambulance arrives. You're not hurt, are you, Brooke?" _She stared at her stomach._

"…" _She put a hand to hold down where it hurt._

"Brooke?" _Go away._

"Just come quick, please," Brooke pleaded, glancing down at her stomach. She cautiously lifted her hand; the blood had stained her fingers bright red.


	3. Chase

**PLEASE READ - A/N – **The following chapter takes place during Season 4, Episode 12: Resolve; which aired **January 24, 2007**. I tried to figure out certain dates and such, so I've made the end of their senior year happen in 2007. This chapter takes place two months earlier from the previous chapter.

…

**2 Months Earlier**

Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life. May 16 was a Wednesday.*

…

_I got bruises on my knees for you,  
and grass stains on my knees for you.  
Got holes in my new jeans for you,  
got pink and black and blue._

…

Brooke debated on what to wear; the chose right now was between a black blouse and her brand new "clean teen" shirt. It's always nice to have options, but she had had her eye on that black blouse since she saw in her closet this morning, and let's get real; "clean teens" was a bit hypocritical for her to engage in, all things considered. It was all Rachel's fault that she even had a choose between two shirts, if she hadn't convinced her to steal the key to the answer sheets, Brooke would already have the black blouse over her head and been well on her way to make-up. It was already 6:55, school started at 7:15 and it would take at least ten minutes for her to get to school and she had to talk to Rachel before class and today was just _not_ her day. 6:56…why is time flying by? Black blouse it is.

…

"So, that Chase boy was yummy, don't you think?" Popping her gum, Rachel turned around in her seat to give Brooke a sly wink.

"Mhm." Brooke agreed, thinking of the boy she had met this morning, and of the same boy she had tried to seduce in the library, to the utter dismay of Mouth.

"So, you know how Lucy is in second period with Scott and his hoe?"

"Which Scott?"

"Which one has the hoe?"

"Oh, so Lucas?"

"Well, long story short, he's fucking your ex."

"He's fucking himself?"

"Your ex-best friend, dumbass."

"Oh."

"Don't look like your puppy just died or anything…"

"I don't have a puppy."

"What is with you today?"

"Ms. Gatina, want to share with the class?"

"Sorry, Mr. Holden." Rachel said, innocently fluttering her eyelashes. She waited until their English had turned back to the board and then whispered, "So, what is with you, slut? Pining after the blonde?"

"Yeah, I'm into girls."

"I'm talking about Lucas, don't play stupid with me."

"I'm not. Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are, baby?"

"Cut the crap, Davis. What's going through that ugly little head of yours?"

"Ways to seduce you, of course."

"Don't make me slap you."

"I don't like Lucas, Rachel."

Satisfied, the red head turned around and started writing the notes on the board down on her paper.

And in the following moments, Brooke felt like she was lying.

…

"You screwed me over for a guy who won't screw you," Rachel stated calmly, but the fire was evident in her eyes.

She was being a tad harsh, Brooke was just trying to kick that lying feeling away, and she was going to use Chase to do that. Rachel had to understand, using boys was her expertise. And though it felt like she had to choke the words out, she said, "Oh, please, like I couldn't get Chase after a little... chase. "

Chase…chase. Name…high-speed "chase."

Irony at its' best.

Rachel raised an eyebrow and gave a 'wow, can you really be this clueless?' look her best shot, "I think you're forgetting something. See, Chase is into smart-born-again-virgin Brooke, not stupid-slutty-I-cheated-on-the-Calculus-test Brooke."

Best friend say what?

Time to chase Chase, ha ha.

Kill me now.

…

*Expert from _(500) Days Of Summers_. Date was originally May 23rd.


	4. Shattered

_And I'm a little bit lost without you,  
and I'm a bloody big mess inside.  
And I'm a little bit lost without you;  
This ain't a love song, this is goodbye._

…

Missing somebody is the most painful thing to go through. It's like…having a tummy ache. That's so childish and not quite as deep as one would hope to describe such an emotion. But it's true. A tummy ache and butterflies, combined to create a twisted feeling of loss. Nobody likes it. If life was perfect, nobody would ever leave, nobody would ever make you cry, somebody would always care about you. If only. Life isn't perfect, but I do believe that there are happy ending, that there is a rainbow at the end of every storm. 'Cause you have to believe. You have to believe in good and beauty, or else you're done for. Missing is a terrible feeling, and quite a hard thing to overcome. Because the only reason you would ever miss someone is if they left, and the only reason you could ever miss someone if they left is if they meant so much to you, you never wanted them to leave. Ever.

And Brooke Davis had never wanted Lucas Scott to leave her, ever.

But he did.

And once someone's left you broken, all torn up and alone, how do you put yourself back together?

Yes, she had been one to leave him, to break up with him. But she would've been a fool to stick around after the way she'd since him looking at Peyton. He took his heart back from her, and threw hers back to her. While he had grabbed his back with care, he hadn't even thought of hers. He had thrown it and she hadn't caught it. So her fragile heart hit the floor and shattered. Shattered into a million tiny pieces and as hard as she tried to make sure she picked all them up, some had been so small, so delicate and tiny, they had slipped between her fingers.


End file.
